The potential benefits of plant cyclitols in the treatment of psoriasis

Abstract

Introduction: Cyclitols, the hydroxylated cycloalkanes biosynthetically derived from glucose, occur in all living cells and express a broad spectrum of biological activity and participate in many cellular processes including membrane biogenesis, signal transduction, ion channel physiology, osmoregulation, and antioxidation. They have several health-promoting and therapeutic properties such as: improving lipid profile in decresing of serum triglicerydes and total cholesterol, as well as having an insulin-mimetic effect. Moreover, they have antioxidative, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties. Aim: Revision the literature and analysis of available studies on the potential beneficial effects of cyclitols on inflammatory processes in psoriasis. Results and discussion: This article discusses the potential anti-inflammatory properties of cyclitols affecting the individual elements of the pathophysiology of psoriatic inflammation: inhibits the expression of MHC class I and MHC class II of mature dendritic cells, resulting in a decrease of IL-12, IL-23, which are necessary to differentiation of naive lymphocytes in Th1 and Th17 line; inhibits NF-κB, a major signaling pathway activated by TNF-α with reducing of inflammation; inhibits the angiogenic factor VEGF, with reducing epidermal hyperproliferation and enhance of the activity of antioxidants. Conclusions: The anti-inflammatory effects of cyclitols suggest that they can be used for treatment of psoriasis.